Spent Rice Hulls

[SeaMaiden]

I've got a couple bulk companies lined up. I like the bulk, but couldn't guess the weight... let me see if I can figure out what weight I have and relate that to what you're using.

In the meantime, I did my first batch of biochar yesterday, and learned a few things, like that rice hulls really do char better, easier and faster than wood shavings, but once the pile is big then wood shavings will work just fine.

Ok, calculations...

I can now get 6'cu (174.6 liters) of rice hulls/bale@$2-$3/ (moldy bags are $1 less).
Uh... DDG, while you're paying a fraction of the cost of perlite, I wonder if you couldn't maybe get an even better price. Even paying full retail of $8-$9/6'cu (when sold as animal/horse bedding), we're talking less than half what you paid for that 50lbs. Unless my math is that far off.

 

[DuckDuckGoose]

I've got a couple bulk companies lined up. I like the bulk, but couldn't guess the weight... let me see if I can figure out what weight I have and relate that to what you're using.

In the meantime, I did my first batch of biochar yesterday, and learned a few things, like that rice hulls really do char better, easier and faster than wood shavings, but once the pile is big then wood shavings will work just fine.

Ok, calculations...

I can now get 6'cu (174.6 liters) of rice hulls/bale@$2-$3/ (moldy bags are $1 less).
Uh... DDG, while you're paying a fraction of the cost of perlite, I wonder if you couldn't maybe get an even better price. Even paying full retail of $8-$9/6'cu (when sold as animal/horse bedding), we're talking less than half what you paid for that 50lbs. Unless my math is that far off.

SM,

finding rice hulls has been a challenge. my only option is to buy it from the wholesalers for beer breweries. these hulls are shipped from Arkansas. the farm stores around here don't use rice hulls. every farm store that i call responds exactly the same ....

"what!? rice hulls? you can't feed animals rice hulls! oh... you want them for soil? why?"

so i went and bought them from the brewery. this time of year gardening products are difficult to source, which is understandable considering i have a foot of snow on my garden right now with more snow on the way tonight. the dro store has perilite and growstones (like pumice kinda), and they cost $35 for 2 cubic feet. even at the price i'm paying it's still more economical to purchase a product that was imported and shipped from Arkansas. gonna probably char the left overs also which is a bonus.

DDG

 

[SeaMaiden]

Are there large animals (horses) being kept anywhere in your area? I found that I can use wood shavings, but some care needs to be taken because they smother a smaller fire very easily. You're right, this time of year a lot of stuff is hard to source! That's why I'm going downcountry and buying in bulk now. It's worth it.

I also started throwing a lot of dead stuff onto the pile, and then thought, what the heck? Started pulling up some fresh weeds and throwing them on there. I'm trying to view this from a different perspective, this biochar thing, and I don't think it has to be super-technical, and I think that peoples past probably threw everything in there, and I also think that they may have used green material to help keep hotter areas more smothered. Banana leaves, palm leaves, pulled grass, animal bones left over from cooking, pottery sherds--*all* kinds of things are found in terra preta.

I actually first learned of terra preta through my Archaeology magazine. Just as I learned about the Chinese copper mining scheme in Afghanistan through that magazine, a full 2yrs before it came out in mainstream media. You just never know what you'll learn or where.

So, I'm wondering, you don't have rice hulls out there--what do you have? And then I wonder, why can't you use that (what you have on hand)? Nut farming may produce shells, grain farming might produce chaff (that's pretty much what the rice hulls are, yeah?), there's gotta be something that you can save money on and get good use from, all the while closing the loop (shipping from afar).

We had some weather roll through last week, I wouldn't be surprised if you're east of us and it's the same system. Unless you're getting hit with more Arctic weather.

Oh, have you ever tossed perlite or rootballs with perlite into a fire? They POP and spark.

People are always very surprised when I tell them I use the hulls for soil, but then when I explain what I do they're often very interested. I love that it tends to lead into a conversation about organic methods, etc.

 

[DuckDuckGoose]

Are there large animals (horses) being kept anywhere in your area? I found that I can use wood shavings, but some care needs to be taken because they smother a smaller fire very easily. You're right, this time of year a lot of stuff is hard to source! That's why I'm going downcountry and buying in bulk now. It's worth it.

I also started throwing a lot of dead stuff onto the pile, and then thought, what the heck? Started pulling up some fresh weeds and throwing them on there. I'm trying to view this from a different perspective, this biochar thing, and I don't think it has to be super-technical, and I think that peoples past probably threw everything in there, and I also think that they may have used green material to help keep hotter areas more smothered. Banana leaves, palm leaves, pulled grass, animal bones left over from cooking, pottery sherds--*all* kinds of things are found in terra preta.

I actually first learned of terra preta through my Archaeology magazine. Just as I learned about the Chinese copper mining scheme in Afghanistan through that magazine, a full 2yrs before it came out in mainstream media. You just never know what you'll learn or where.

So, I'm wondering, you don't have rice hulls out there--what do you have? And then I wonder, why can't you use that (what you have on hand)? Nut farming may produce shells, grain farming might produce chaff (that's pretty much what the rice hulls are, yeah?), there's gotta be something that you can save money on and get good use from, all the while closing the loop (shipping from afar).

We had some weather roll through last week, I wouldn't be surprised if you're east of us and it's the same system. Unless you're getting hit with more Arctic weather.

Oh, have you ever tossed perlite or rootballs with perlite into a fire? They POP and spark.

People are always very surprised when I tell them I use the hulls for soil, but then when I explain what I do they're often very interested. I love that it tends to lead into a conversation about organic methods, etc.

as far as making char, i could use wood shavings, but they wouldn't be suitable as an aeration amendment.

i guess i could try and source something cheaper come spring time. probably get some pumice or lava rock at a nursery, but those aren't exactly local either. definitely no volcanoes in my neck of the woods. the brewery is importing truck loads of the rice hulls, so it's being shipped in large quantities. there is a niche market for them here, so i don't feel like i'm reaching out to get them, you just have to know who to ask...kinda like good dope! and i'm new to this organic growing thing so i couldn't tell you what other items are good for a potting soil.

it seems like a step in the right direction for me to use the rice hulls over the perilite. cheaper, dual use item, a waste product from another industry, more friendly to work with than the perilite dust and the compressed bale is easier to store than a huge sack of perilite. i'm sold!

DDG

 

[SeaMaiden]

Oh, absolutely agreed with regard to rice hulls > perlite, 100%. I still have a whole bunch sitting in the tubs I used for hempies, and I still have half a large bag of vermiculite from years ago.

I was just kinda thinking out loud, musing as to whether there might be other avenues for you to explore in your location. Part of the 'locavore' mentality..?

 

[ClackamasCootz]

it seems like a step in the right direction for me to use the rice hulls over the perilite. cheaper, dual use item, a waste product from another industry, more friendly to work with than the perilite dust and the compressed bale is easier to store than a huge sack of perilite. i'm sold!

DDG

DDG

You made the right call. There's only a handful of rice producing states and none of them are close to Canada so you will pay more than someone living in California, Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina or Arkansas.

It's called logistics

 

[floral]

http://www.groworganic.com/rice-hulls-50-lb-bag.html

 

[Cannabis]

Can you use these in a first round usage in a hempy bucket etc, then when they soften, toss them into the yard garden plot? Are they in fact that deterioration resistant?

In other words a more across-the-board replacement for perlite? Thanks to whomever answers with some definitive information I'm a huge, huge, alternative/guerrilla materials fan.

 

[bigshrimp]

Cannabis - they wont hold air and water like perlite and vermiculite, have very little CEC too. I wouldn't put them in a hempy.

 

[Cannabis]

Thanks I'm grateful for the overall understanding.

 

[wordtree]

rice hulls are quite high in arsenic. maybe better off finding something else for aeration. just saying; given cannabis' affinity for accumulating minerals/metals.

 

[bigshrimp]

They have the potential to accumulate arsenic - Know your source - dont buy rice hulls from bangladesh lol.

 

[wordtree]

rice takes up arsenic via the same metabolic pathway as silica, as do most monocots. Thing is that rice is grown in paddies or other very wet conditions...as long as there is any trace of arsenic in the soil whether in organic or inorganic form the rice will 'eat' it. Arsenic is far more water soluble than common forms of silica...
I don't think it's just a 3rd world problem-- even Lundberg and other organic rice growers have quite a bit of arsenic in their finished produce. Make up your own mind, I suppose.